IAC Looks to Expand Web Presence in China from the Wall Street Journal reports Ask.com is planning on coming to China within two years. Barry Diller said he plans on spending $100 million to bring Ask.com to China. Diller told the Wall Street Journal, "We've certainly got enough capital to do damage," and admitted there is risk to such an undertaking. Diller plans on replicating the strategy they used to expand in the European markets with this China expansion. [...]

Related Topics: Ask: Business Issues | Channel: Industry

Google Blogoscoped reports that Google has dropped the "video" link within the main top navigation at Google and replaced it with a "products" link. You can now find the "video" link by clicking on the "more" link, which will expand and show the video option at the far bottom of that drop down. Here is a screen capture of the new Google navigation: Google Products has gone through many changes over the years. Philipp Lenssen at Google Blogoscoped does a good job giving us the history. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Google: Product Search | Google: User Interface

Miami woman sues missing husband for share of lottery win from the AP reports a husband was keeping a huge secret from his wife. The secret? He won $19 million in the Florida lottery jackpot! Donna Campbell is now suing her husband for half of his winnings, which turned out to be $600,000 after he had to split his winning with the group he bought the ticket with, who opted for the lump-sum payment of $10.2 million. Donna Campbell became suspicious when her husband was insistent on keeping the television off at all times. Reportedly, her husband was an avid TV viewer. But when she receive [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: Parodies

Search Engine Land is taking the Thanksgiving holiday off, and best wishes to all those celebrating today. We'll be back with regular coverage tomorrow. Search engines are celebrating with special logos like those above. See the full-sized versions (including Yahoo's animated one) and more special search logos in Search Engine Roundtable's regular roundup, Thanksgiving 2007 from Google, Yahoo, Ask.com, Dogpile, & The Search Industry. Also see our post from yesterday, Flight Tracking, Airport Conditions, Real-Time Traffic, & Other Thanksgiving Search Tips, for those looking for Thanksgiving [...]

Related Topics: Ask: Other | Channel: Consumer | Google: Logos | Yahoo: Other

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Flight Tracking, Airport Conditions, Real-Time Traffic & Other Thanksgiving Search Tips With the US about to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow, how are the major search engines gearing up to support an onslaught of Thanksgiving queries? Let's take a look at how you can use them, ranging from flight tracking tools to special "shortcut" or "smart answer" boxes leading to... The Politics & Policy Of The Google-DoubleClick Acq [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

With the US about to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow, how are the major search engines gearing up to support an onslaught of Thanksgiving queries? Let's take a look at how you can use them, ranging from flight tracking tools to special "shortcut" or "smart answer" boxes leading to related information. Many people travel by air on Thanksgiving. Want to know if friends or family are going to make it on time? Several of the major search engines prominently list flight tracking information, as well as airport conditions and related information. Do the right se [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Search Features: General

Yesterday, Danny wrote a lengthy piece dispelling some of the myths and misinformation surrounding the pending Google acquisition of DoubleClick. Today CNET has two articles, one on the EU decision to apply more scrutiny to the proposed deal, as we expected, and another on privacy advocates' concerns about the acquisition and the appropriate legal standards involved in the regulatory review process. The first CNET piece explores and contrasts the review process in the US and EU and discusses some of the legal standards and anti-trust rules being brought to bear on the potential transaction. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Acquisitions | Legal: General | Legal: Privacy

Digg The Candidates is a new area on Digg that allows you to see what US presidential candidates are digging and doing on Digg. That's right, you can check out what Barack Obama (with about 3,200 Digg friends) and Ron Paul (with about 6,000 friends) are up to. But is it really the candidates doing things or just their staffers trying to make them look hip? Looks like the latter. Below, a tour of the pretty disappointing performance of candidates hitting the Digg campaign trail. Digg's post about the new area makes it seem like the candidates themselves are on the scene: We’ve reached ou [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Search Engines: Digg | Social Media Marketing

This summer, the National Hockey League took a cheap shot. No, they didn’t redesign the league’s uniforms or put a team back in Winnipeg. Rather, they took control of overseeing the league’s websites. Since the domains had previously been run by each franchise, naturally the move has some team marketers feeling left out in the cold. As it turns out, a friend of a friend—we’ll call him "Puck"—happens to run the website for one of these teams. Recently, he posted a game recap and included a photo of a fight that occurred during the match-up. Later that evening, he got a c [...]

Related Topics: Brand Aid | Channel: Strategy | Search Marketing: Branding

The Google Base Blog has announced that they have cleaned up and streamlined the Google Base Bulk Upload Dashboard. Google said the new dashboard provides "a better overview of the status of your bulk uploads and your items." Here is a before and after of this dashboard. First, the new Google Base Dashboard: Next, the old Google Base Dashboard: For more information on the Google Base Bulk Upload dashboard, click here. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Base

With all the talk of Amazon's new $399 ebook reader (and blog, newspaper, magazine) Kindle, it made me think: What if Google had developed this or a similar device (the Gindle? Goodle?) instead of putting out Android? Of course, there's nothing that precludes Google from doing such a thing in the future, but for now it appears to have no plans to do so. What's interesting about this idea? I'll explain below. Kindle, in case you're unaware of it, was just released this week to mixed reviews. It offers an always-on WiFi connection and has a browser. Users don't pay for wireless access (from S [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Mobile

Facebook's Tracking of User Activity Riles Privacy Advocates, Members from the Wall Street Journal reports privacy group MoveOn.org is attacking Facebook over their Beacon Ads product. MoveOn.org has an online petition that asks: When you buy a book or movie online--or make a political contribution--do you want that information automatically shared with the world on Facebook? That is what privacy advocates are worried about. These beacon ads follow you around the web and update your information with your non-Facebook activities. Privacy advocates say this goes too far and Facebook should [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook

In-house search marketers face many unique challenges, ranging from running huge or dispersed sites to finessing internal politics and corporate egos. I thought it would be interesting to get the inside scoop from five in-house search marketers that are both successful at their jobs and who command the respect of their peers. What follows are interviews with Melanie Mitchell, the VP of SEO and SEM at AOL, Anthony Kirlew, Internet Marketing Consultant & In-House SEM Specialist, Patrick Schaber, Marketing Manager, George Bounacos, Sr. Manager, Search Engine Marketing at Innovectra, and Edwar [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search | In House Search Marketing

So, I got this Google-branded lip balm from the Google Store. I couldn't resist it—it just seemed like such a kooky thing for them to brand. After getting it, I feel like Google might be approaching some sort of critical mass, and that they could be in danger of losing control of their trademark. Is this a trademark lawyer's nightmare? I know they likely had these Google-branded lip balms made to use as tchotchkes—the little give-aways that companies hand out at their booths at conferences, and so they could give them to visitors at their headquarters in Mountain View. But, th [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Legal | Google: Marketing | Legal: Trademarks

Last week I had occasion to visit with a B2B prospect. Halfway through our meeting they voiced concern about their ability to uphold their end of the SEO partnership. Naturally, soon thereafter we were engaged in a spirited discussion on the main reasons B2B campaigns fail. As it turns out, they were already familiar with how both lack of implementation and lack of measurement can contribute to campaign failure. However, they were genuinely surprised to learn that lack of communication between internal teams can play a huge role in determining whether a campaign succeeds or fails. [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: Search

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Are Your Customers Looking For A Problem?The main problem with marketing is it's too much marketing and not enough problem—your customer's problem. Too often, we focus on our product instead of what our customer needs. Instead of trumpeting how great our products are, the Internet rewards companies that let their customers come to them. And just... The Social Media Manual: Read Before You Play I get so many questions from people about Digg, Prope [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

The main problem with marketing is it's too much marketing and not enough problem—your customer's problem. Too often, we focus on our product instead of what our customer needs. Instead of trumpeting how great our products are, the Internet rewards companies that let their customers come to them. And just how do you let your customers come to you? Search marketing is a good place to start. Some of the most successful search marketers know how to focus on the customer's problem to allow customers to come to them. Consider an example. You've just been named the product manager for [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Search Marketing: General | SEO: Writing & Body Copy

I get so many questions from people about Digg, Propeller, Reddit, Stumbleupon, and other social news sites every day that I decided to write this little "manual" as something to read before you jump in head first into any social site, and to keep by your side as you progress through the ranks. It should not only help you succeed with your social media marketing efforts, but also help you avoid some of the mistakes I've made. 1. Before you even think about signing up with a socially driven news site, consider this: Have you spent some time browsing the community (reading the content and th [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Search & Social | Social Media Marketing

Compelling video content can potentially open the door to site traffic, targeted visitors, and increased brand awareness. But, are the videos on your site easy for search engines and prospective customers to find? Today's infographic demonstrates some quick and easy steps for optimizing videos: Graphic by Elliance, an eMarketing firm specializing in results-driven search engine marketing, web site design, and outbound eMarketing campaigns. The firm is the creator of the ennect online marketing toolkit. The Search Illustrated column appears Tuesdays at Search Engine Land. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Infographics | Search Illustrated | SEO: Video Search

The Google Earth Blog has a humorous discussion of the "world's largest KFC logo" in the Nevada desert. KFC stands for Kentucky Fried Chicken, the US-based fast-food chain. This stunt is about being visible in satellite mapping applications (such as Google Earth) and takes the rooftop logo craze to new heights and lengths -- literally. Apparently this is located in or near Rachel, Nevada, which is also near the infamous "Area 51." Here are some screenshots of the logo in the dirt: Here are all the KFC locations in Nevada, so if you pass the logo on the highway and find yourself mysteri [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Google: Earth | Search Marketing: Local Search Marketing